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Re: Your first exposure to ENing?

My first experience of EN was at a LLL meeting too. DD was 6 weeks and I was struggling with bf. I had no idea what LLL was all about and never knew that babies could be nursed past 12 months.

There was a mother at the meeting with 16 month old twins. She was such an inspiration to me, once I got over my initial shock!lol!, and she made me want to do it too. I only met her the one time. I wish I could meet her again and thank her.

My DD is now 30 months and I am tandem nursing her and my 8 week old DS. Certainly not what I imagined 30 months ago!

Re: Your first exposure to ENing?

My first exposure was at LLL meetings when my first was 3 months old. Didn't think much of it at the time...to each their own. What really freaked me out at the time was the first time I heard them talking about using breastmilk in the ear for ear infections. Thought they were all nuts!

Re: Your first exposure to ENing?

I have a good friend who nursed one of her sons until he was 4!! She told me this long before I ever became a mom, and although I said "Wow!" my thought was "OK I don't know how I feel about that, it seems so old!"

But now that I am a mom myself, and happily nursing my 15 month old, I am totally fine with anyone nursing as long as they are both happy about it. I think the first time I ever saw anyone nursing a child over 2 was at a LLL meeting although my friend I just mentioned, I'd seen her nurse her daughter (who is going on 3 now and still nursing!) when she was older than a year. That was before I'd ever gone to a LLL meeting though.

Re: Your first exposure to ENing?

My mom nursed my younger sister until she was 4, but I don't really remember that because I would have been 8 when my sister weaned herself. So, I guess the first time I can actually remember seeing EN'ing was at a LLL meeting. A mom was nursing her 3 1/2 year old along with her 18 month old, and I just thought that was the coolest thing ever! It's hard to believe that before Autumn was born my goal was 6 months....now, she is 6 months and I can definitely say that BF'ing is one of the best things in both of our lives. It gives me such a feeling of purpose to know that I am giving my daughter something that no one and nothing else can! And she loves it too. She makes little "mmm" sounds when she nurses. I definitely plan on nursing Autumn for as long as she wants. Seeing that mom tandem nursing really inspired me!

Re: Your first exposure to ENing?

I was out to lunch with my thesis advisor who had brought along her 15month old. We were eating and her daughter started shrieking. She just pulled her out of the stroller and put her to the breast, not even breaking eye contact with me. Honestly, at first I was very shocked by it - it was the first time I had seen anyone NIP and it was what I then thought was a very old baby to be nursing. In hindsight, I'm so glad she did nurse her daughter then - that's what made me think "ok, maybe sensible and educated mothers DO nip!" I thought of her doing it so effortlessly during my first NIP experience and it gave me the confidence I needed to do it. I also plan to EN my daughter and I also credit my thesis advisor with first making me consider it as something that "normal" people do. I hate to admit it, but before having my daughter and researching all the breastfeeding information, I think it would have appalled and shocked me to see someone nursing a 3 year old and I don't think I would have ever thought I'd plan to do it. That just proves how important education is to improving breastfeeding rates!

Re: Your first exposure to ENing?

This is a great question!!
My first exposure to a toddler nursing was when I was 19. I was taking a summer class at a local University (to make up for a class I blew off during my freshman year of college). It was a Woman's Studies type class, and towards the end of the summer, one of the other students brought her daughter. She was about 18-20 months old, and so cute during our discussion; she was running around, playing, acting cute. Then she crawled into her mothers lap and started nursing!! I was shocked to say the least, and more that a little grossed out!! I also remember thinking that the mother was SO Old!! She was probably all of 30, but she had gray hair, so to my 19 year old self she was pretty old!!
Well, I am now nursing a child who will be 4 YEARS old two weeks from today. (And i had her when I was 34!)

Re: Your first exposure to ENing?

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i never saw anyone else ENing until i converted to Islam, where nursing until two is actually the norm and is expected.

Isn't it from the Hadith that babies are supposed to be nursed until they are 2?
Also, are you familiar with the quote (I don't know if it is from the Hadith or the Koran , or neither for that matter) that nursing a baby is a form of worship?
P.s
Love your name, I guess you could call me UmmAdeeb

Re: Your first exposure to ENing?

The first time I saw a an older child nursing I was in West Africa traveling along The Gambie River on a crowded bus, heading toward a rural village.
I was 19 years old with my long blonde hair in a place where most people had never seen a white woman.

A man gave up his seat for me and I ended up next to a woman and her child.
The little girl was probably four or five years old. She was terrified of me, like she was seeing a ghost.
Her mother spoke little English so we were trying a bit of my poor French and some signing. She wanted her daughter to sit on my lap. So she started to breastfeed her daughter and then proceeded to plop her daughter on my lap. Her breasts were large and her daughter continued to nurse while sitting on my lap.
The little girl was totally relaxed because she was nursing and was able to giggle and touch my hair and face.
It was very strange and yet once of the most amazing moments of my life.
I saw first hand a little girl terrified of me and really protesting to even look at me and then she was able to do an emotional turn around, relax and be curious and silly due to the comfort provided by breastfeeding.

I knew then that breasts were not just about nutrition.
What a wonderful mothering tool!

I found out later that white men had been in the area but that was still rare. I was traveling with two other women (both dark hair) and a man. He told me it was my hair color that was creating such a scene. LOL